Duaine,  It sounds like you are loosing patience with both the piano
and the customer.  This will only serve to put you in panic mode and
cause you to start "experimenting" for a cure that will only make
matters worse.  If by blocking the hole in the spool mounting shaft,
the system works properly, then the only place for the problem is the
spool itself.

Facts: (a) If the paper roll leader is not in perfect condition to seal
off the hole in the spool, it won't work.  Wrinkled and trimmed short
leaders cause trouble on the Ampico.

(b) If the leather washer around the hole in the take-up spool is not
fixed in place solidly, it can leak and it won't work.  This little
washer must be in condition to seal against the paper roll leader.

Test this stage by putting a piece of tape over the hole in the spool
and see if the system operates properly.  If it does, you have isolated
your trouble.

If it does not, there is just one more place where a leak is possible
and that is the left bearing end.  The original bearing was of ball
bearing style packed with grease and press fit into the wood take up
spool over paper washers or shims.  At one time, the Player Piano
Company sold a Nylon replacement part for this ball bearing.  They may
still have some in stock.

What you must keep in mind is that the piano is doing what it is told
to do.  It is getting a signal from the wrong place so the above
information should solve the trouble.

As for the chain, I would suggest it jumped off the sprocket because
someone manually shifted the transmission with a degree of force, from
Rewind to Play while things were moving at a high speed causing the
chain to jump.  There should be a tension or idler roller to prevent
this and perhaps it was not adjusted close enough.

Yours,
Ken Vinen
Aylmer, Ontario, Canada.